PROVOST AT SOUTHEAST TAKES JOB AT NORTH DAKOTA

Dr. Charles Kupchella, provost at Southeast Missouri State University, was selected the 10th president of the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks Tuesday.

The announcement was made Tuesday afternoon after on-campus interviews with two finalists, the University of North Dakota said. The North Dakota State Board of Higher Education interviewed eight candidates in all for the job.

Nearly 50 candidates applied for the post after UND President Dr. Kendall Baker announced his resignation last August.

The North Dakota university's 1998 fall enrollment topped 11,000 students. Southeast enrollment hovers around the 8,000 mark. Grand Forks sits on the border between North Dakota and Minnesota and has a population of about 50,000.

Kupchella has been provost at Southeast since 1993.

Members of the university faculty and staff greeted the news of his job change with mixed reactions, Don Dickerson, president of the Board of Regents, said Tuesday.

"Dr. Kupchella leaves a tremendous legacy of accomplishments at Southeast, and we are confident that he will do a great job as president of a major university," Dickerson said. However, he said, "His departure will leave a tremendous gap in our leadership team."

Kupchella had been the principal author of the university's strategic plan and had helped the university expand its service into communities from Kennett to St. Louis, said Southeast President Dr. Dale Nitzschke.

Nitzschke said Kupchella had worked on projects like the Polytechnic Institute and River Campus and Southeast P.M., as well as securing accreditation for the Donald L. Harrison College of Business.

"During his six years as our provost, Dr. Kupchella has become a statewide leader in higher-education circles and has made a significant impact" on the region, Nitzschke said.

Kupchella had been one of five finalists last year for the chancellor's position at the University of Michigan in Flint.

Kupchella is a professor of biology and had been dean of the College of Science, Technology and Health at Western Kentucky University before coming to Southeast. He also was chairman of the biology department at Murray State University from 1979 to 1985. He also served at the University of Louisville and Bellarmine College.

He and his wife, Adele, have worked in the Community Pride Coalition, a coalition of groups trying to reinvigorate the city's downtown business district and older neighborhoods.